The Dream and the Vision

The start of a dream and a vision – Around the World Travel

A little over a year ago, Sharo read a one-page article in Parent Map, a news magazine for parents in Seattle. This article, that would change our life so drastically, was the story of a family that had traveled the world for a year, discovering themselves and learning about the wonders of the world.

Sharo strategically placed this magazine on the arm of the couch, opened to the article so I would “find” it. After reading the article and remembering a long-present and deep down desire that I have had to travel the length of the Pan-American highway, I looked at Sharo and said “let’s do it.” What followed was an obessive-compulsive tinged month of researching everything I could about Around the World Travel, including 4 am bed times and multiple nights of no sleep due to a mind that would not stop once I was in bed.

Isn’t this what life is about? Passion? A Dream big enough or scary enough to make you think about it for days (or months) on end?

The initial plan was to travel via planes, trains, buses, boats, cayucos, and whatever other form of public transportation exists in the local area. We wanted to take our time – rent an apartment for a month in Buenos Aires, Paris, and other great cities around the world. Then I discovered the many blogs about overlanding.

Remember my deep down desire to travel the Pan-American highway? Driving would allow us to travel at our own pace, visit remote villages and off-the-beaten path desitnations, and hopefully reduce costs by providing transportation and lodging on the road. Reading about couples like Coen and Karen at Landcruising Adventure, who have been traveling non-stop for 10 years and exploring locations like the TransAmazonian Highway inspired me. So we decided that the way to do this adventure would be with a Land Rover Defender 110 or a Land Cruiser, and to extend the Pan-American trip by a few thousand miles and drive around the world.

Another bout of late, sleepless nights followed as I searched out the “perfect” overland vehicle. What resulted were two realizations: that we had no idea what vehicle to take and that we really did not have a desire to drive Central America. All the blogs I read and the Facebook pages I followed did, however, futher instill the desire for us to do “this.”

Then came an opportunity

It is amazing how when you are in the process of changing your life – and are open to getting outside of the box you have been living in for the last decade – opportunities present themselves that you would not have considered 6 months ago. This opportunity came in the form of a job relocation to Singapore – a relocation to the one part of the world that we had decided we would most likely not drive to due to the difficulties in getting to, from, and around using a foreign vehicle.

So, here we are in Singapore on an open-ended local employment contract. In a country from which SkyScanner claims I can get a flight to Malaysia for S$55 (it was actually S$100 all-in), Vietnam for S$96, India for S$112, Thailand for S$113, China for S$123, and Australia for S$371. Did our dream of driving around the world disappear? No.

When we decided that we were going to “do this” we did not have the financial resources to buy a cheap used Land Cruiser, much less fully fund a 1-3 year trip. Instead, we set a goal of 2-3 years for building a web based business that can be run anywhere in the world, saving money, selling everything and driving off into the sunset. The relocation to Singapore falls nicely into our plans, our dream, and our vision – to travel the world as a family, to become part of local communities, to give our daughter a world education, to live life to it’s fullest every day – to live on the globe.

What is your dream? What have you always wanted to do, but never thought you could? If you $1 million and 5 years to live, what would you do differently?

i love it. i love it. i love it. you’re really doing it. you are, one crazy step at a time. thanks for sharing. our dream- we keep making them up as we go, one crazy step at a time. cheers jeff. great writing.

Good luck to you! This is such an exciting adventure and we are going through something similar right now but have not made that decision yet to “jump”. Still working out details. I look forward to hearing your stories!

I love that the world opens up to you when you are ready. Follow your dreams and passions and things will feel right. It is amazing how “easy” our move to Spain seemed, it is like it was just meant to be. Can’t wait to see more from you and your experiences.